INSPIRATION

 

A lot of people want to write but they say they can't come up with any ideas. Oops, first misconception ( i like that better than mistake). You don't come up with ideas for a story any more than you decide to invent something if there is no need for it.  All the ideas are out there already. Your job as a writer is to recognize them. All of life is fodder for a yarn, if you just open yourself to all the untold  stories around you.

If you sit at your desk and try to think of ideas you will just end up with a headache and perhaps a bunch of crumpled bits of paper on the floor. 

Just promise yourself that you will be wide awake, totally aware of the world and all the players out there and you'll be amazed at the ideas that start to land around you. Something that seems insignificant to the average person can end up being the catalyst for an epic novel or at least an enthralling short story. 

When you get that "ah ha" moment, jot it down, record it on your phone, repeat it in your head ten times, anything that will keep it fresh. And then if it really is the right one, something marvelous will happen; you will start getting the next pieces of your puzzle. Be ready. Collect them as well. Don't sweat it if they don't seem to go anywhere. You're a writer, you can take care of that later. 

Once you have that little stack of sticky notes or one liners recorded, simply sit down and write. I'm serious, it is that simple at first, even if it doesn't remain that way. It doesn't matter what it looks like at first, you've left the starting gate and you have your notes to guide you. Just write. When you run out of words, stop for the time being. Let what you've written marinate in your mind, until the next few pieces of the puzzle come to you. And then do the same all over again. 

There will come a day when you start writing and you won't be able to stop. It'll be as if your fingers are just channeling directly from the universe, without that troubling business of thinking. 

That's the first and biggest hurdle. The rest is for another day.